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I know it won’t last, but I have come away from this years Who Do You Think You Are? Live incredibly motivated and fired up with enthusiasm for family history. The challenge now is to keep this going for the next twelve months until the next WDYTYA Live rolls around (assuming it does).

The weekend was filled with talk of what could be achieved in idealised genealogy world where anything is possible if you just have the time and money and know where to look. In the real world however I have definite shortage of the first two, although the third doesn’t worry me quite so much.

One aspect I really liked about the three-day weekend was that I was, for a very short time, a full-time family historian, nothing else mattered for those 72 hours. I know I can’t afford to do this very often, but I wonder if I might be able replicate this on a smaller scale.

Perhaps once a month I could take a day out and treat myself to a genealogy escape day where I can take myself off somewhere (not necessarily an archive) where I can concentrate on family history. Maybe in the summer I could find an isolated hill-top where I can just escape everything and think of nothing else but family history for a while.

It might seem a little selfish, but I think I need to get away from the hassles and distractions of everyday life every once in a while, maybe even disconnect from the internet, or at least use it as a tool and not let it be a distraction.

One thing I am certain of is that it needs to be planned in advance, firstly so that it doesn’t cause too much inconvenience to anyone else, but secondly so that I can make arrangements and get organised, but also so that I have something to look forward to.